Trust becomes first to see a third of beds filled by covid patients during second wave

HSJ’s analysis also reveals that two health systems have tipped the 20 per cent covid occupancy rate for the first time during the second wave of the pandemic.

Barnsley had an average 36.9 per cent of its near-400 beds occupied by covid patients across the week to 3 November. This was up from 21.4 per cent in the week-ending 27 October.

It seems likely this will rise further as the trust’s daily occupancy rate increased across the week, nearing 40 per cent on two occasions and surpassing this mark on 2 November.

Trusts across England are seeing a greater proportion of their beds filled by covid patients however the preponderance remains in the northern acutes.

The North West region’s Pennine Acute Hospital Trust is now reporting the second-highest covid occupancy rate following a 9 percentage points increase from 20.1 per cent on 27 October to 29 per cent on 3 November.

It surpassed fellow North West trust Blackpool Teaching Hospitals FT, which last week had the highest occupancy rate for patients positive for the virus but has since seen this fall from 30.9 per cent on 27 October to 28.7 per cent on 3 November.

BHT was one of only eight trusts to see its occupancy rate decline over that period and one of just two that saw occupancy fall by more than 1 percentage point. The other was Wirral University Teaching Hospital Trust, where covid occupancy dropped from 10.3 per cent to 9.3 per cent.

This analysis is based on the number of confirmed covid-positive patients as a proportion of total general and acute beds available last winter in England’s type 1 acutes, using a seven-day average. 

The South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw and Lancashire and South Cumbria health systems are the first to report a seven-day rolling average for bed occupancy above 20 per cent.

SYB had 21.1 per cent of its beds occupied by covid patients as of 3 November – up from 16 per cent on 27 October – while the Lancashire system had 20 per cent, an increase from 18.6 per cent on 27 October.

SYB and its neighbouring West Yorkshire and Harrogate system are driving the occupancy rate in the North East and Yorkshire NHS region however the second wave is taking a stronger grip on systems in the Midlands as its effects head south.

The Nottingham and Nottinghamshire system’s occupancy increased from 13.2 per cent on 27 October to 18.7 per cent on 3 November, the largest growth over the course of the week making it now the third most occupied system behind SYB and Lancashire and South Cumbria.

Elsewhere in the Midlands, The Black Country and West Birmingham saw its occupancy rate increase by 4.4 per cent from 8.7 to 13 per cent, Derbyshire’s system saw an increase from 9.1 per cent to 12.2 per cent, and Birmingham and Solihull increased from 6.8 per cent to 11 per cent.

The below trust-level heat chart is best viewed by downloading the image here.